Kirkuk falls as U.S. plans ahead

Skirmishes between US forces and Iraqi fighters broke out around Baghdad today as thousands of youths converged on the city centre with wheelbarrows and carts for a new wave of looting.

In the north, Kurdish fighters and US commandos met almost no resistance as they rolled into the strategic oil-rich city of Kirkuk, and it appeared the regime's hold on the north of the country was also collapsing.

A day after American commanders declared that Saddam Hussein's men no longer controlled the Iraqi capital, one Marine was killed and at least 20 were wounded in a seven-hour battle to seize a palace in the northern outskirts.

A US spokesman said the American troops were acted on a tip-off that regime leaders were trying to organise a meeting in the area.

During the operation, he said, the Marines were fired on from the compound of the Imam mosque, close to the Az Amihyah Palace.

He said he did not know whether Saddam was among those trying to organise the meeting, and he had no information about any regime leaders being captured or killed.

Another group of Marines meanwhile discovered an enormous weapons cache including hundreds of mortars and grenade launchers and millions of bullets.

But the largely one-sided battle for Baghdad appeared to be nearly over, and US military chiefs were focused on tackling pro-Saddam forces in their handful of remaining northern strongholds -- including the dictator's heavily defended hometown of Tikrit and the cities of Mosul and Kirkuk near the northern oil fields.

Kurdish forces seized control Kirkuk today, taking some fire but also passing scores of deserting Iraqi soldiers as they advanced through the city.

Reporting from outside Kirkuk police headquarters, Sunday Times journalist Adam Holloway said he had seen no sign of armed Saddam loyalists. There was no sign either of damage to the oil wells, which US officials had warned were rigged with explosives. Kurdish forces also took control of the oil-producing town of Khaneqin near the Iranian border.